Renditions of professional mathematics teaching: A study of prospective mathematics teachers' growth through the creation of professional portfolios

The improvement of students' achievement in K--12 mathematics education is dependent upon the availability of a high-quality teaching force. In recognition of this fact, this research inquired into the role that professional portfolios can play in the preparation of secondary mathematics teachers in order to ascertain whether this tool can help to better prepare prospective teachers to engage in high-quality mathematics instruction. The analysis identified the ways in which the participating teachers perceived that the development of a professional portfolio impacted their professional development, and it described the ways in which the portfolio process influenced the development of these teachers' habits of mind as reflective practitioners. The study focused particular attention on the development of the habits of mind that are required to follow a continuum of growth towards high-quality mathematics instruction (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000).;For the prospective teachers who participated in this study, the development of a professional portfolio served as an opportunity to document, and sometimes to reflect on their experiences while learning to teach secondary mathematics. For those who engaged in the development of the portfolio as a reflective practice, Goodman's (1978) theory of rendering was found to provide an apt description of the nature of the work that the teachers engaged in as they created their professional portfolios. Through learning to render their teaching practices in the portfolio, the majority of the teachers in the study came to identify the purpose of their portfolio as their own professional development. Establishing this intrinsic purpose appeared to be consequential, as those teachers who failed to do so made fewer connections between their teaching experiences and their course work, and they generally perceived documentation and reflection to be an add-on to their work as teachers. In contrast, for the teachers who rendered for their own professional development, the teaching portfolio supported the construction of instructional theories to guide reflection-in-practice. In sum, the results of the study indicate that the professional portfolio can support prospective mathematics teachers' professional development in ways that initiate a continuum of professional growth towards high-quality mathematics teaching.